Mary Knapp

Mary Knapp is a retired biology teacher who still likes to teach, but now she teaches quilting. The author's family consists of a supportive husband, two grown sons and their families, and a huge Newfoundland dog. All of them add to the qualities used in her quilts. The men always have an opinion and new ideas to develop. The dog forces Mary to take a break and go for a run in any weather. Many of the tips she develops are put through the troubleshooting process during those runs. These breaks also include skiing in the winter and swimming and boating in the summer in upstate New York.

Mary has taught classes and had exhibits in a variety of venues. One of her quilts was used as art for the cover of a college math textbook. She has earned numerous awards in a variety of quilt shows. Mary enjoys machine piecing because of the sharp precision it affords, but she also likes hand applique because of the softness. Many of her quilts that have won awards have been hand-quilted, but she also machine quilts.

Mary designed a series of quilt patterns based on lighthouses along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, which runs along the northern border of New York State. Quilts made from these patterns were shown in the book Shoreline Quilts published by C&T Publishing.